


We Are Who We Are

by WebbedUpKatanas



Category: Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Asexual Character, Brief mention of binding, Brief mention of dysphoria, Disabled Character, Fluff, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 04:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2010768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WebbedUpKatanas/pseuds/WebbedUpKatanas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Today is the day Sam Alexander met his long time hero, Spider-Man.</p><p>Today is also the day when Sam found out that Spider-Man is kind of a douche.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are Who We Are

Today is the day Sam Alexander met his long time hero, Spider-Man.

Today is also the day when Sam found out that Spider-Man is kind of a douche.

Fury had sent them in to a battle already in progress, powers blazing and ready to help, and Sam had been practically vibrating in excitement when he heard that this was going to be their first formal Spidey introduction. “No time to brief you, just get downtown  _now_ ,” Fury had yelled through the coms, right before the signal went down. And then Ava was yelling at him to stop smiling because this was serious, and suddenly they had found themselves up to their necks in Chitauri. The situation was pretty dire, and after that he had to focus on saving as many civilians as possible. Still… he had felt a little thrill of excitement at that first glimpse of red and blue coming towards them.

Spider-Man hadn’t quite lived up to his expectations.

He was ignoring every request (or command) anyone on the team shouted to him, and when Sam had yelled at him to duck so he could shoot past him he had stayed right in the way, getting caught in a blast that had sent him to the ground.

“Sorry!” Sam raced down to check on him, and the other hero had glared at him through the mask.

“You’re supposed to be fighting  _them_ not me Bucket-Head,” the other teen had shouted, gesturing to the hoard. Bucket-Head. Wow real original.

“I told you to get out of the way dude. Maybe if you  _listened,_ ” but Spidey was already gone, web-swinging his way back into the thick of the battle before Sam could say another word.

So yeah, he’s a little disappointed… but then again a battle probably isn’t the best place for introductions right? And he  _had_  blasted him kinda hard…

He stands up from the long table in the briefing room, waving off the rest of the team’s complaints as he heads towards the door.

“You can’t leave, Fury isn’t here yet,” Ava protested as Sam keeps swatting at the air as though her words were flies that could be brushed away.

“Yeah yeah. I’m just going to find Spidey. He should probably be here for this too right?” He didn’t wait for an answer, striding out the door with a deep sense of relief as it wooshed shut behind him.

As luck would have it he doesn’t have to go far before he runs into the web-swinging hero, finding him walking down the hall staring at his phone as he texts someone, his fingers flying over the keys faster than Sam thought possible.

“Hey Webs! How’s it hangin’?” Sam asks, chuckling at his own joke. The laughter dies in his throat though when Spider-Man doesn’t even bother looking up from his phone.

Okay…

“Uh… you coming to the briefing?” he tries, but Spidey just keeps walking towards him, keeping his focus trained on his stupid phone.

"Okay now you’re just being rude! C’mon dude I get that you’re like, the professional hero or whatever but you’re being kind of an asshole aren’t you?"

Spidey looks up then, blinking at him in what has to be feigned surprise. Then he gives a mocking little wave as he walks right past Sam before disappearing around a corner, and Sam frowns.

“What a dick.”

.

…….

“You didn’t even try to find Spider-Man did you?” Luke asks when he gets back, and Sam glares at him, affronted.

“I did find him for your information, and he ignored me. Is it just me or is he kind of a jerk?”

“He does seem… distant. Perhaps he just needs time to warm up to having a team,” Danny suggests, patting him on the back in an attempt to draw him out of the epic sulk they could all feel brewing.

“Whatever. Spider-Man sucks.”

It’s at that moment that the hero walks in, looking nervously between the expectant faces of his new team (except Sam’s face of course. He was currently rocking his best moody glare). He waved almost shyly, moving to take the seat right beside Sam’s and frowning when the Nova shuffled his chair away a bit.

“So…” Ava began, but then Fury was there, and everyone went silent.

“Okay team, good job out there today,” he says as they settle in, following it immediately with a list of every single thing they had gotten wrong.

Sam sighs and settles in, casting moody looks at Spidey every once in a while. He’s taken off his mask, and his brown hair is all messy and longer than Sam would have thought, but he doesn’t notice much else about him besides the increasingly uncomfortable look on his face as he watches Sam watch him.

After a minute or two Spidey grabs a paper and a pen and starts to write, so Sam decides he should probably pay attention to whatever Fury is saying. Except two seconds later the paper is being slid across the desk and up under his arm.

**Do you have a problem with me or something?**

Sam snorts and then nods, writing  **yes**  on the paper for good measure and pushing it back at him.

“And now for introductions,” Fury says, interruption the glare battle they’ve gotten themselves into before Peter can write anything back.

Peter follows Sam’s eyes up to the front, seeming a bit startled to find Fury looking at them.

“Peter Parker, meet Ava Ayala or White Tiger. Luke Cage is Power Man. Danny Rand is Iron Fist, and you appear to already be getting to know Sam Alexander, or Nova as he’s called. Team, meet Peter.”

Peter keeps glancing back and forth between Fury and each team member, smiling at each of them as they wave or give him a nod, until he is back to glaring at Sam.

“You five will be spending a lot of time together, and I hope you’ll all try to keep things  _professional,_ ” Fury speaks specifically to Sam. “Now, we should discuss the extra tech we’ll be adding to your suits before I let you go for the day.”

“What extra tech?” Ava asks.

“We’ll be adding speech to text software so that Peter can tell what you’re all saying in the field. As you saw today communication is a little bit harder when one of the team can’t hear, so we’ll be working harder on that aspect of your training in the following weeks.”

It takes Sam’s brain a couple of moments to process what Fury is saying, and then a few more for the pieces to slot into place.

 _Oh_.

Oh God, he’s such a jerk.

“You’re deaf?!” he screeches without thinking, and Peter’s glare gets darker as he tilts his chin up defiantly and nods.

“Way to go Sam,” Ava mutters.

As though he didn’t feel bad enough already.

……….

It isn’t until two days later that he gets a chance to talk to Peter alone without it being weird. The whole team has been doing a lot of bonding, trying to get a feel for the new dynamic, but every time he tries to write something to Peter the other boy ignores it.

Finally he gets fed up, grabbing onto Peter’s arm and tugging him insistently into a hallway.

“Dude, we got off on the wrong foot. Can we start again?”

Peter gives him a mistrustful look, like he’s trying to figure out what kind of trick Sam is pulling, and it makes him feel about two inches tall.

“I uh… I thought you were ignoring me. I didn’t know you were deaf, and I was talking to you and I thought…”

To his surprise Peter looks like he’s trying to fight back a smile, and he’s losing the battle more and more as Sam stutters on and on.

“You’re talking too fast but I think I got it,” Peter says when Sam falls silent, making him jump. “I’m honestly kind of relieved. That happens all the time, and it sucks, but it’s a lot better than mysterious hatred.”

“Y-you can speak? Dude!”

Peter nods and finally lets himself smile fully, and wow okay that’s a pretty okay smile he has there.

“Yeah I can talk, but I don’t like it. Weird not being able to hear myself,” he kinda yells it, but that’s okay. Sam sure as hell isn’t going to point it out and risk embarrassing the dude, especially because he wants him to keep talking. His voice is nice. Besides Sam’s not exactly the quietest person so anyone hearing them might just think they were two really loud friends.

It’s almost like Peter reads his mind though because he cringes, grinning sheepishly and lowering his voice significantly as he says, “Like that right there… that was loud wasn’t it?”

Sam shrugs. “A bit dude. Its cool though. You can’t tell, but I can be kinda loud too.”

"Oh I can tell," Peter grins. "The cringing when you talk in quiet places is a good indication."

"How would you know when its quiet," Sam scoffs, the tips of his ears turning red, more from having Peter’s eyes so focused on him than the being loud thing.

"Less lips moving in the room. Oh and I noticed when we were in the library too… I kinda doubt started blaring Metallica in those places since I went deaf."

“Nah it’s dubstep now. Much better.” Peter raises a brow at his taste in music but laughs anyways at the sad attempt at a joke, and Sam feels a lot better about everything.

“So you don’t hate me for no reason?” Peter asks, still grinning a little bit.

“Kinda hate you for calling me loud. Oh and because you’re a buzzkill nerd,” he says, cringing as the words leave his mouth because Peter can’t hear the joking tone. But Peter just snorts, and shoves his shoulder.

“And I hate you because you’re a cocky showoff and a jerk,” he replies.

And Sam is pretty sure that’s the moment they became friends.

……….

**U have a little something on ur face**

Sam hands Peter the notebook, trying to hold back his chuckles as the other boy starts scrubbing at his chin.

**What is it? Did I get it?**

Sam ducks his head to hide his smirk and writes his reply.

**No, it’s a stupid look, and its still there**

Peter’s glare is blazing, but Sam isn’t scared, too busy falling all over himself laughing.

**Oh really funny bucket-head. You should probably visit the little boys room bc that’s where ur sense of humor belongs**

“Hey!” Sam glares back at him, leaning over into his space to snatch the notebook from him. Peter doesn’t back down, lifting his chin and staring Sam in the eyes. Unwilling to break the eye contact Sam tries to scribble out his response without looking, the words ending up scattered all over the page.

“Are you two ever going to stop flirting and join us or what?” MJ asks, rolling her eyes as she places her tray down on the table. Harry and Danny laugh, and even Ava snorts, and that’s when Sam realizes they’ve been standing right in the way of the people filtering from the lunch line over to the tables.

**As if i’d flirt with you**

He’s not sure when Peter took the book back, but that spidery smoothness would really come in handy if he ever wanted to become a professional thief.

“Hah, yeah, I wouldn’t flirt with Parker if you paid me,” he says loudly, gaining looks from a few of the students at the next table over as he takes his seat beside MJ. She gives him a contemplative look, and he feels a little spike of trepidation. Oh great, she’s going to try to talk to him about this later. Not that he doesn’t love talking to MJ about feelings, but he doesn’t even have any feelings about Parker beyond annoyance and like… friendship affection. That’s all, no matter how many looks MJ gives him.

“Sure,” Harry says, handing Peter half of his sandwich since Flash took his lunch again. “We all totally believe you.”

MJ changes the subject before he can reply. “While I’d love to keep talking about Sam and Peter, like we  _always_ do, I have to tell you guys about the feedback I got on my article on the cafeteria lunch meat scandal,” she says as Ava pushes her tray away from her with a horrified look.

Sam tries to listen for all of three minutes, but then he gets bored and kind of grossed out, and he finds it much easier to think about how hard he’s gonna kick Peter and Danny’s butts later during video game night.

Peter catches his eyes and sticks his tongue out at him, which wow, really mature Parker. So Sam sticks his tongue out back  _and_ thumbs his nose, to which Peter responds by putting his thumbs against his ears and wiggling his fingers as he blows a raspberry.

Pffft. Flirting?

Yeah right.

……….

There’s an explosion.

Sam and Peter are in an abandoned building looking for survivors when it happens, and it all happens so fast. The earth shakes, everything kind of shifts, and then the wall caves in and they are plunged into darkness.

“Ugh great, he knocked out the lights. What is it with villains and darkness? How are we supposed to get out of here if we cant see?” Sam grumbles. He’s met with silence, which, yeah, he probably should have expected since Peter can’t hear him. Or see him now. Shit.

It’s at that moment that he hears a quiet sound and then a small voice calls out “Sam?” in such a wavering tone that Sam’s heart just kind of breaks right then and there.

He gropes around in the darkness, looking for Peter and wishing that his stupid voice to text thing wasn’t broken right now. Stupid terrible timing.

“Sam? I really… okay I’m kinda freaking out right now. Are you okay? Oh my God Sam I’m… I don’t know where I am and if you got crushed I’m seriously going to kill you. I mean it Sam, that bucket belongs on your head and if you kicked it-” Peter breaks off with a little screech as Sam finally uses his voice to find him and grabs his shoulder. In the next second Sam finds himself slammed against the wall, a web-shooter aimed at his face.

“Who…” Sam grabs Peter’s hand, placing it on his helmet before he can struggle against him too much. “Sam,” he breathes in relief, and then he shoves him a little. “You scared the heck out of me dude.”

“That whole not swearing thing you do is weirdly cute,” he says, and then quickly stutters to over it up. “I uh… I mean it’s weird and dorky and you’re kind of a lo-… you can’t even hear me… what the hell am I doing?”

He goes to move away but Peter’s hand grabs his own tight and he chuckles nervously. “Uh… can we… if you let go I just feel like I’m floating in the middle of a black hole or something.” Sam nods though he can’t see it and squeezes his hand back, pulling him down to sit on the ground. They can’t muscle their way out without seeing the debris, so they might as well relax if they’re going to have to wait to be rescued.

He shuffles in close, pressing his whole side against Peter to comfort him.

“This is terrible. I hate this. I feel all lost and my Spidey Sense wont stop tingling and- ugh, this is the worst,” Peter sounds beyond distressed, and Sam struggles to figure out how in the world he can possibly make this situation suck any less.

“Oh man, oh man. Sam I- I think I might be freaking out a little.”

Sam takes his hand and traces a shape.

In the silence that follows he can almost hear the confused and intrigued crinkle of Peter’s expression. He draws it again, and then again until Peter finally says “S?”

He squeezes his hand in encouragement and then gets to work drawing a P.

“I…D…E… Spidey?”

“You got it,” Sam squeezes his hand and leans his head against Peter’s shoulder so that he can feel him nod.

“What about me?” Peter asks, his voice now sounding rich and amused, losing some of the distress from earlier.

“You’re ridiculously cute,” Sam says, drawing an ‘I’ and then an ‘S’ on his hand.

“Spidey is-” Peter is clearly grinning by his tone and Sam draws an A before pausing to drum up the suspense.

“You’re cute and I think I might kind of like you. I mean… I’m starting to at least. Which is so stupid. Because you piss me off and all we do is bicker, and I’m pretty sure you’re straight? And even if you aren’t-”

“Spidey is a  _what_  Sam. I might be  _good_ at it, but that doesn’t mean I like being left hanging.”

D-O-R-K

Sam smiles and Peter shoves him. “You’re such a jerk,” he laughs, and Sam squeezes his hand again.

“No you,” he says as he spells it out slowly against Peter’s palm.

“How am I a jerk?”

They have a slow conversation that way, holding hands in the dark until Luke appears through the rubble to save them, joking about damsels in distress and getting smacked by Ava and Danny simultaneously for it. “I was kidding!” he protests, and the team starts to bicker amongst themselves. Sam is about to join them when Peter tugs at his arm, making him hang back.

“ **Thank you Bucket-Head** ,” he writes on his paper, holding it up with a that dorky smile that gives Sam butterflies every time.

“Yeah, it’s cool. I know, I know dude, I’m totally your hero,” he says, puffing out his chest. Peter just laughs, shoving him right in the center of it before walking away.

……….

The week after the explosion is weird, so Sam is kind of relieved when Peter invites him to movie night with him and MJ. They do this every so often, and it feels good to get back into a routine as opposed to the weirdness that’s been happening lately every time he finds himself around Peter.

Speaking of weirdness… Peter looks up guiltily the moment Sam walks into the room and snatches his notebook away from the redhead on the couch. MJ, on the other hand, looks as cool and collected as ever, raising her eyebrow at Peter slightly before giving a little wave. “Hey Sam, how’s it going?”

“I brouf us some pezza,” he chirps happily through a mouthful of meaty and cheesy goodness. Holding the box out to them he settles on the couch beside MJ, getting comfy for their three man movie night.

“Do you really have to talk with your mouth full of food?” MJ sighs, and Peter grins at him, flipping a few pages in his notebook before setting it aside and reaching for a slice.

Sam glares at the notebook.

Normally he wouldn’t notice, but this is the third time this week he’s walked into a room only to be met with Peter’s vaguely guilty look. The first time had been with Luke, then yesterday he could have sworn he saw his name on the page as Peter flipped it closed. But then Danny had greeted him and offered him snacks, and he had forgotten all about it… until now.

“Uh I don’t  _have_ to, but it’s more fun that way.”

MJ rolls her eyes, but she and Peter both look amused so he takes that as a win. “You’re so gross. What horrible movie have you boys chosen to torture me with this time?” she asks, writing it down too before stuffing almost half of a slice into her own mouth, which is pretty impressive if Sam says so himself.

“Ugh Peter made me pick something you’d like,” he says, holding up Labyrinth and secretly delighting in MJ’s excited squeal.

The movie is fine, and then after they play cards and talk, and Sam almost forgets all about his misgivings. It’s only when MJ yawns and tells them she’s heading off for the night, leaving them alone, that he remembers that Peter’s been acting weird. “Tell Ava and the guys I say hi,” she says with a wave, giving Peter a pointed look as she closes the door behind her.

Sam studies the ceiling. Then the floor. Then the coffee table and then the arm of the sofa. His lips are pursed, eyes big, as he fidgets in the silence and tries to figure out what to say.

“Well… I’m gonna…” Peter’s voice makes him look up, disappointment written all over his face at the thought of the night ending. The other boy does look tired though, his eyes a little red and his hair all mussed up from running his fingers through it. In his too big t shirt he looks like he could fall asleep right then and there on the couch.

**Right. Thats fine I guess if u dont think u can stay up as late as me…**

Peter snorts.

**Nice try dude but im exhausted. Ran into rhino on my own today while you guys were dealing with batroc. I think my bruises have bruises and Im about to pass out**

**oooh rough. Ill make sure to wake you up at 630 instead of 6 for training. Wont even jump on your bed to do it.**

**Thanks dude, you’re so sweet**

Peter stands up and gives him a long look before the corners of his lips turn up and he moves to leave.

“Hey Pete,” he grabs Peter’s arm before he can leave, giving him his own searching look.

“Um…” he almost loses his nerve as he scribbles his question down.  **you arent mad at me are you?**

Peter blinks owlishly. “No. No of course not Bucket-Head.” He nudges Sam with his elbow lightly and gives him a smile. “Believe me, you’d know if I was.”

Sam smiles and shoves him back.

“Okay. Cool. That’s good.”

He should feel better now right? Only… only there’s still something there between them. Things that are going unsaid. Things he’s not even sure how to say. And he has no idea if Peter feels them too or if he’s just imagining it.

 **Goodnight webs** he writes, staying in the living room thinking long after Peter has gone to bed.

……….

Everything is warm and good and he never ever wants to leave, he thinks, shifting a little to get more comfortable. Sam is taking the opportunity of their one day off to bask in the sunlight **,**  soaking it up as much as he can before they have to head back to the cold streets of New York. God he hates the cold.

**I hate the heat**

Sam snickers and sticks out his tongue at Peter. They are laying on the beach, the rest of the team playing frizbee a little ways away. Sam’s light cotton t-shirt is damp with sweat, but Peter looks like he could probably make his very own puddle from how much he’s sweating. His face is flushed, and Sam tosses his some sunscreen just in case, because the last thing he needs is a burnt Peter complaining 24/7 for the rest of the week.

**Whatever webs get used to it. I have to suffer through the cold all the time. u can deal.**

Peter spends the next few minutes drawing a very elaborate picture of Sam shivering in a parka, making sure Sam is watching as he adds more and more clothing and blankets until Sam is nothing but a pair of eyes peeking out from a massive pile of fabric.

“ **Very funny** ” Sam replies, drawing Peter in his swim trunks a few times side by side, adding more and more sweat drops to each picture until the little Spidey is up to his chin in water.

**Har har. Although for once u had a good idea Sparky. Come swim with me?**

Peter hops to his feet, holding a hand out to help Sam up.

Sam pauses, thinking it over. He’s honestly a terrible swimmer, and the ocean kind of freaks him out. But Peter looks so hopeful, a look that’s quickly fading to confusion as Sam refuses to grab his hand, and maybe he doesn’t really feel like admitting that there’s something that Peter can do better than him.

He grabs him, hauling himself up, and is surprised when Peter doesn’t let go, tugging him down to the water and right into the spray.

“Cold! Holy crap it’s cold,” Sam tries to tug his hand back but Peter keeps pulling him in until he’s submerged up to his chest and shivering a little. He suddenly remembers that he doesn’t have an extra t-shirt, which totally sucks because now he’s going to be damp until the sun manages to dry him off. “Dude, not cool.”

Peter laughs brightly, splashing him a little before dipping underwater. When he comes back up it’s with a sigh of relief. “Dude how can you stand this heat? It’s horrible.”

“I lived in Arizona,” he says with a shrug.

“You poor thing.” Peter looks him over and then smirks, diving under water. In the next second he feels hands grabbing at his ankles, and he’s  _so_ glad the rest of the team is far enough away that they probably didn’t hear his high-pitched shriek. He stumbles away and Peter comes up for air, laughing as he breaks the surface of the water before immediately diving back down to resume his attack.

“Parker no… no ahh, get away I  _will_ kick you,” he splutters, laughing despite himself, right up until he falls backwards into an oncoming wave. His head goes under and then suddenly he doesn’t know which way is up, and he can’t feel Peter’s hands on his legs anymore, and okay yes he starts to panic a bit. The water is strong, pulling him along without his consent even as he struggles against it.

He’s coughing when he breaks the surface again; panting when his feet cant find the bottom. He just has time to see Peter, a lot farther away than went he first went under  _how the hell did that happen,_  before he’s sinking back down and water fills his mouth.

His eyes open, but the swirl of water around him is dark and confusing, and he can’t hear anything but the frantic beating of his own heart and a voice in his head saying that after all the villains and aliens he’s fought, this can’t be how he goes.

Then there are strong arms wrapped around him, hauling him to the surface where he coughs and spits out as much water as he can as he tries to catch his breath.

“Sam! Sam are you okay? Oh my God dude why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t swim?!” Peter’s voice is loud in his ear as he settles his back against him. Peter paddles them in to safety, holding him close as he backstrokes and muttering soothing words until they reach a spot where they can both stand.

As soon as they are upright Peter is spinning him around, his brown eyes huge with worry as he looks Sam over. “Are you alright?”

He nods, his throat burning too much to speak right now. “Good. Holy-” He cuts himself off, pulling Sam’s body against his own in a tight hug.

When they part it’s reluctant on both their parts, but Sam gives him thumbs up just to reassure him of how okay he really is.

“Next time fight back instead of rushing off into deep water when you  _can’t swim_ ,” Peter says, trying to lighten the mood, though the worry is evident in his tone.

Sam gapes at him. “Yeah or, I don’t know… how about next time don’t grab my legs!”

Peter thinks it over for a second. “Nope. No can do,” he says as he reaches down, pinching at Sam’s knee and making him jump.

“Dude!”

“Hey you two! Time to go, Fury wants us back like yesterday,” Luke shouts, interrupting the giggle fits that Peter has been reduced to as Sam tries and fails to look stern and not laugh along with him.

“Aw man,” Sam plucks at the wet fabric of his shirt as they head back to shore. So much for having time to dry. “ **Can’t believe I wasted my only warm time freezing my butt off with you and trying not to drown** ”he writes when they reach the towel, turning to throw all of his stuff into a bag, sand and all. He’ll deal with it when he get’s home.

When he turns back around Peter is handing him his own shirt, the one that says “Are You a Charged Atom Because I Got My Ion You”, which means Sam has to weigh the pros and cons of how embarrassing wearing it would be over how horrible it will feel to wear his gross wet shirt for the whole ride home.

“Here. Stop complaining, I know you had fun. Well… except maybe the drowning part,” Peter adds sheepishly.

Sam glares at him but takes the shirt anyways, waiting until Peter looks away to tug his wet one off. There’s still wet fabric against his chest yes, but much less now, and the shirt is warm from lying in the sun. It smells like Peter’s skin.

He furrows his brow, trying to remember the motions they had tried learning together only two nights ago, huddled together in the glow of Peter’s laptop laughing as they tried to get a hang of even a few words.

He moves his fingers, pressing them against his lips and moving his hand outward to sign ‘thank you.’

Peter beams at him.

“Yeah it’s cool dude. I know I’m your hero.”

Sam watches him walk away, wishing that smug little smile didn’t make his heart beat so darn fast.

……….

After the Helicarrier crashes Sam finds himself kind of enjoying living with Peter and the team. Maybe he should feel guilty about liking it so much, since their home did kind of explode and then sink to get them here, but he can’t help it. Peter’s aunt May is amazing, and way more fun than most of the people his own age that he knows, plus living with the whole team in close quarters just feels kind of… right. And the Parker kitchen is waaaay better for cooking than the sad excuse for one they had been allowed to use on the Helicarrier.

Okay yeah, sometimes it’s annoying, and they all definitely step on each other’s toes once in a while, but it’s still pretty cool. It feels more like home than anywhere has since he left Arizona.

“Hey Ava, wanna hang out tonight?” Sam asks, hovering in her doorway as she tries on different scarves in the mirror. “Or do you have a hot date or something?”

Ava blushes, shooting him a glare before deciding on a necklace instead of a scarf. “Shut up Sam. I’m going over to MJ’s. We’re having a sleepover.” She sounds tense, like she’s not exactly sure what to expect, but he can’t really help her there. He has no idea what girls do at sleepovers and he has a feeling he doesn’t want to either.

“Oh so it  _is_ a hot date,” he smirks, and she throws a hairbrush at him. It hits him right in the forehead. “OW!”

“You deserved that,” she says, brushing past him into the hallway.

“Uh no I didn’t. Wait… no don’t leave I’m so bored!” He follows her all the way downstairs, hanging around like a lost puppy as she slips her shoes on.

“Too bad. Danny and Luke are at Jessica’s so why don’t you go bother Parker?” She closes the door behind her before he can protest, but after a moment he figures he might as well take her advice. Maybe they can start on that list of terrible sci-fi movies they’ve been meaning to watch.

He finds Peter curled up on his bed, his nose stuck in some sciency book that looks way too advanced to be school work. Who the heck reads science books for fun?

“Yo Parker,” he says, lowering his book with a hand so that Peter can read his lips. “Wanna movie marathon it up?”

Peter glares at him for a second, his sciency heart no doubt breaking over being wrenched away from his beloved bunsen burners and test tubes and… whatever else science geeks write about. But then he smiles and nods, and Sam mentally celebrates his awesome ability to change a boring night into something kinda awesome.

They set up the tv in their shared room, both sitting against the headboard of Peter’s bed and laughing at the terrible dialogue and ridiculousness of some of the closed captioning descriptions and the beyond cheesy special effects.

They watch movies until late, laughing and trading jokes so often that eventually they forget to watch the screen, and neither one really notices when the third movie ends. They are both a little sleepy in a pleasant sort of way as they write to each other, the conversations switching between the serious and ridiculous as they lean their shoulders together to better share the notebook. It’s the kind of sleepy where barriers start to break down little by little, and everything feels warm and nice and floaty, like they can say anything to each other without consequences or judgment.

Peter is so easy to talk to that he finds himself writing out things he’s never really bothered to talk to other people about before. He writes about his little sister, binders and feeling wrong in his own body, and about what its like to fly among the stars with the smell of fireworks in your nose and the light of the universe in your eyes. He writes until his hand is cramped and he’s filled pages and pages of Peter’s tiny notebook. And then he listens to Peter’s voice. It’s too quiet at times, wavering and nervous at first before he takes to it like he’s starved for words, for the very act of speaking that Sam had reassured him he didn’t have to do if it made him uncomfortable.

"Nah, its actually not that uncomfortable around you," Peter had admitted, and Sam’s heart had ignited, glowing bright and warm like a star in his chest. "Mostly because I know you probably sound louder and even more ridiculous than I ever could," he had added jokingly. Sam probably should have scowled sooner, but it took huge amounts of effort to wipe the dopey smile off of his face.

"The tinnitus was the worst though," Peter is saying as Sam tunes back in to the present.

"Wait, tin- tini what? What’s that?" Sam asks, making sure Peter can read his lips, his brow scrunching up in confusion. It sounded kind of familiar, but he can’t place where he’s heard the word before.

"Technically its defined as ringing in your ears," Peter says with a sigh. "But its more like the unholy shrieks of hell playing on constant loop in your brain. Kinda like listening to 24 consecutive hours of Kidz Bop only slightly worse. Oh man that’s one thing I definitely don’t miss…"

"Oh right! Dude I’ve had that!" Peter gives him a doubtful look, like he gets this all the time, so Sam holds up a finger and starts writing.

**Seriously. I had a really bad concussion and my ears were like… screeching constantly. It drove me nuts. I can’t even imagine having that all the time, that must have sucked dude.**

Peter blinks and then nods, grimacing at the memory. He takes the pen and looks at the paper for a second before looking up and continuing speaking instead. “How did you get the concussion?”

Sam’s eyes go big.

"Uh… in a really cool guy way obviously."

Peter starts to laugh, which sucks because Sam had kind of hoped he would have missed that comment if he had said it fast enough.

"Seriously Bucket-Head? Alright then cool guy, what did you do? Now I’m intrigued."

"Skateboard," Sam mutters, and it isn’t until Peter squints at him and glares a little that he remembers he can’t hear him. He scribbles the word down on the page, willing himself not to blush.

"What you tried a jump and it failed? You skated off the roof on a dare? Or did you just trip over a pebble or something?"

And now he’s beet red, and Peter’s eyes widen a fraction before he’s laughing so hard he almost falls onto Sam’s lap, holding his stomach as he does. “You totally  _did_  trip on a rock didn’t you?! Oh my _God_.”

His laugh is annoying and way too loud, and Sam hates it, so he does the only thing he can think of and kisses the stupid jerk right on the lips.

He sort of misses and has to compensate, but the movement crushes their noses together painfully, and Sam yelps even as it suddenly hits him that his lips are on Peter’s. And wow does it ever feel nice despite the pain.

Peter lurches back, breaking the contact, and stares at him with startled eyes. “You…what? Did you actually just-“

"You were laughing at me," Sam exclaims as though that somehow explains it. He can’t help but pout a little, even as his stomach clenches in fear at Peter’s reaction. It’s not exactly what he was hoping for, not that he had planned this out far enough ahead to even know what he was hoping for.

"You- you just-" Peter looks affronted, and then suddenly he’s kissing Sam; another quick press of lips against lips, much less painful this time, before he pulls back.

“You should have said something earlier. Do you know how long I’ve been…” Peter blushes bright red to the tips of his ears, and now it’s Sam’s turn to laugh, doubling over and slapping at his knee as Peter glares.

“We are so stupid.”

“You’re worse than me,” Peter says, nervously tangling his fingers in Sam’s own.

“No way dude. You’re way worse. I didn’t even know you liked me at all.”

“It’s not my fault you’re oblivious!”

Sam rolls his eyes and writes out his response.

**You’re just as oblivious as me. And at least I was brave enough to make the first move.**

“Only because I’m so irresistible.”

This is going nowhere fast, so Sam chooses to shut him up with another lingering kiss.

It’s after about the third achingly sweet press of lips that Sam decides that fighting with Peter is fun, but kissing him? Kissing him is out of this world.

……….

“I’m not writing everything out. That’s like… so much effort. You can just read my lips right?” Peter’s impersonation of a deep lilting voice is thrown off a little by how quiet it comes out, like he’s overcompensating for how loud he thinks his anger will make his voice.

**Dude, what the hell**

Peter shakes his head, looking so frustrated that Sam slides an arm around his waist to comfort him. When Pete starts writing it’s fast and violent, his pen scratching deep into the page.

**Because all deaf people can read lips like a pro right? Its not like it’s actually really hard. It’s a sudden power you inherit when you lose your hearing, like being bitten by a radioactive lip reader. I woke up and could suddenly totally understand all the weird shapes ur gross spitty mouth is making wow who would have guessed. U were totally right, me struggling to understand a single thing u say is waaay easier than taking two seconds to scribble your moronic thoughts out onto a piece of paper for me**

Sam squeezes him close and presses a kiss against his cheek. It’s kind of amazing how quickly some of the tension bleeds out of him at that one small gesture.

**So what did you do?**

A slow smile spreads on Peter’s face and he bites his lip to keep from laughing.

**Kicked his butt at basketball. After he was all ‘whoa dude can you teach me how to do that?’**

He looks kinda smug, and normally that expression makes Sam want to fight him, but today it just makes him feel kinda proud.

**What did u say?**

Peter starts giggling. Honest to God  _giggling._

**Sorry, what? I cant hear u**

……….

Peter’s lips are moving slow and slick against his own, the kiss deep and wet and intimate in all the ways Sam never knew he craved. This is a lot more like making out than most of their kissing has been, and he finds he kind of likes it. His hands are up under Peter’s shirt just to feel how warm and good and alive he is, and it would be absolutely perfect if not for one little thing.

It’s just…

He’s not sure where Peter wants this to go. And the thought keeps nagging at the back of his mind, because it’s getting pretty intense, which is totally cool except that Sam can feel the effect its starting to have on Pete against his thigh. And he figures its kind of important that he says what’s on his mind now, before this goes too much further and Peter gets disappointed.

"I uh… I don’t really like sex," he blurts out. Peter blinks at him in confusion. "Just… So you know. I don’t want you to think were gonna… Is that okay? Because you’re being weirdly quiet and stare-y right now."

Okay… now Peter is glaring, and he looks pretty pissed.

Sam’s heart drops in fear even as annoyance flares up in his chest.

Is sex seriously that big of a deal to him that he’s  _mad_  at Sam for not wanting it? What the hell?

This is the exact reaction he was afraid of. He doesn’t need Pete making him feel like there’s something wrong with him, especially not after he’d only just learned there was even a name for what he felt from MJ not too long ago. Seriously, he was finally starting to feel okay about it, and now Peter was going to-

"You started talking while my eyes were closed again," Peter huffs, but his expression is already softening as he surveys Sam’s distressed expression. "You know I hate that dude. What did you say? Is everything okay?"

Oh.

Oops.

"Oh crap sorry. Yeah, I just…” he grabs for the paper. This is the kind of thing Peter needs to fully ‘hear’.

**I just said that I don’t want sex. I’m uh… I’m ace. Like I just don’t… I don’t feel that kind of attraction you know? I figured you should probably know that.**

Peter tilts his head, considering his words.

"Okay."

"Uh…okay?"

Peter nods,his eyes going a bit wide as he suddenly realizes what Sam must have felt to prompt this conversation. But then he’s smiling even as he shifts so that his boner isn’t pressed against him as much, which Sam finds weirdly sweet.

"That’s totally fine dude. I’m uh… I’m sorry about… y’know my uh… ahem. I-I hope it didn’t gross you out or make you uncomfortable…" Sam shakes his head and picks up Peter’s notepad.

“ **No no its cool! I don’t think sex is gross I just like, don’t want it?** " he explained. " **It’s actually sorta flattering how hot you find me** ,” he adds, waiting until Peter glances up to give him a smirk.

Peter blushes and ducks his head a little, which is so dorky its ridiculous. “Thanks? I think.” He pauses, looking thoughtful.” I uh- I don’t think I’d be ready for that anyways,” he stops, grabbing his pen and paper and scribbling away furiously for a minute before handing the paper to Sam.

“ **even if you did want that. I just ~~love~~** **really like kissing you. A lot. And I guess my body kinda agrees and it got a bit carried away**.”

Sam looks up to meet Peter’s eyes and finds him grinning, and the look is so infuriatingly and annoyingly cute that he can’t help but kiss it away thoroughly.

……….

"If you two don’t stop talking during my very important briefing I’m assigning you to bathroom cleaning duty for three weeks," Fury’s voice increases in volume, making Sam jump and look up from the notebook they’ve been hiding under the table guiltily. Peter follows his gaze and immediately adopts a sheepish look.

"Sorry," they both mutter, and then Fury is back to his rant as though the interruption never happened. Sam knows better though. He’s definitely keeping his eye on them.

“ **Pfft** " he writes after a few minutes when he deems it safe enough, passing it to Peter under the table. He watches him fight a smile out of the corner of his eye.

**Dude now ur just asking for trouble**

Typical goody two shoes Webhead response, but Peter is grinning mischievously now so Sam can tell he really doesn’t mind.

He makes sure Pete sees him roll his eyes before handing the paper back.

**I’m not afraid of Fury**

He draws a little picture of the SHIELD director in a frilly tutu with a bow on his bald head for good measure.

Peter snorts, then immediately schools his features into a look of polite boredom as Fury glares in his direction. He must be convinced by Peter’s eyes locking on the text on the screen though, because he doesn’t stop droning on and on about drones to tell them off.

The notebook nudges its way onto Sam’s lap a minute later.

**Maybe cleaning the bathrooms is fitting punishment bc ur full of shit**

Peter grins at him angelically and Sam can’t help but snort out a laugh, oddly timed exactly as Danny sneezes loudly at the other end of the table.

Fury’s intense gaze sweeps over them all suspiciously.

"Sorry. There must be pollen in the air," Danny says, bowing a little in apology. This coming from the guy who let’s Sam, MJ and Jess braid flowers into his hair on a daily basis.

Fury “mhmm”s, unconvinced, but turns back to face the monitor which now showing a map with moving dots after a couple of seconds. Danny’s serene smile takes on a sly edge, and he winks when Sam and Peter grin at him across the table. Sam will have to make him some vegan cake later in thanks.

A hand snatches the notebook back before he can write, and Sam glares, but Peter doesn’t notice, too focused on whatever he’s writing.

**Still, its not the worst punishment in the world. Even scrubbing toilets might be alright if I’m with you**

Peter gives him a playful smile as he hands the book over.

What a dork.

“ **U r such a sappy loser** " Sam writes back.

**You love it**

Peter hands him the paper and their hands brush and Sam’s heart does a barrel roll in his chest. He stares at the page, then at Peter, and then writes what he’s been wanting to say for a while now.

**I love you**

The way Peter’s face lights up when he reads that would be worth bathroom duty for the rest of his life.

And when he reads “ **I love you too, you sappy loser** " scrawled on the page its definitely worth getting kicked out of the meeting for leaning in and kissing him breathless, even if he doubts the team will ever let them live it down.


End file.
